How many West Hollywood residents immigrated to the US?

Short answer: One in four, the same as California overall, less than in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Burbank, more than in Culver City and Santa Monica

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How many West Hollywood residents immigrated to the US? Our answer comes from US Census Bureau surveys. For smaller cities, they combine several years of surveys to get a good estimate. This report uses numbers covering the years 2010 through 2014.

In West Hollywood, an estimated 26% of residents immigrated to the United States. That was double the US average (13%).

Note: We counted residents who were born with American citizenship but outside of the 50 states as non-immigrants. Sources: American Community Survey, 5-year estimates, 2010-2014, Table B05001; our analysis.

Immigrant share compared to nearby cities

Among nearby cities, Los Angeles had the highest percentage of residents who were immigrants, 39%. The share was almost as high in Beverly Hills (36%) and Burbank (35%). West Hollywood was about 10 percentage points lower at 26%. Culver City and Santa Monica were a bit below that at 23%.

Notes and sources: Same as above.

Immigrant share compared to California cities

California as a whole had virtually the same percentage of residents who immigrated to the US (27%) as West Hollywood (26%). However, the numbers for other California cities varied widely. They ranged from 1% in Tehama (Northern California) to 57% in Rosemead (Los Angeles County).

We ranked the cities and calculated percentiles. West Hollywood was in the 63rd percentile. In other words, 63% of California cities had the same or a lower proportion of residents who immigrated to the US. The other 37% of cities had a higher proportion of immigrants among their residents.

Santa Monica and Culver City were very close to the middle among California cities: 51st and 54th percentiles. The other nearby cities ranked much higher. Burbank was in the 82nd percentile, Beverly Hills in the 84th percentile, and Los Angeles in the 88th percentile. That means that only 12% of California cities had a bigger proportion of immigrants than Los Angeles.

Immigrants becoming US citizens

Some immigrant residents have gone through the naturalization process and become US citizens. In West Hollywood, two-thirds of immigrant residents had become citizens when the surveys were taken.

The remaining one-third of West Hollywood’s immigrants were not US citizens. They represented 9% of all residents. We don’t know how many of them were eligible for naturalization. Some of them may have been undocumented immigrants. The Census Bureau surveys didn’t ask that question.

There was a wide range of naturalization rates among nearby cities. The highest was Beverly Hills at 72%. The lowest was Los Angeles at 43%.

Notes and sources: Same as above.

We ranked California cities again, this time by the percentage of immigrant residents who had become US citizens. West Hollywood was in the 86th percentile. Beverly Hills ranked even higher (93rd percentile). Burbank (83rd percentile) and Culver City (80th percentile) were a bit farther down the list than West Hollywood. Santa Monica was below them in the 71st percentile. Los Angeles was in the 35th percentile for naturalization.

Numbers for California cities

The immigrant and naturalization percentages are shown below for 461 California cities. They cover the period from 2010 through 2014. You can sort the table by clicking on a column heading.

Short answer: One in four, the same as California overall, less than in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Burbank, more than in Culver City and Santa Monica|
How many West Hollywood residents immigrated to the US? Our answer comes from US Census Bureau surveys. For smaller cities, they combine...

DavidWarrendavid_warren@post.harvard.eduAdministratorWeHo by the Numbers

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reports using data to explore city government policy, performance, and community issues. Focused on West Hollywood (WeHo), Beverly Hills, Culver City, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. Researched and written by David Warren as a private citizen. This is not a government website.